India crash to Murali and Mendis

Ajantha Mendis (2nd left) is congratulated by teammates for the dismissal Yuvraj Singh (2nd right)

Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan shared six wickets as Sri Lanka shot India out for 146 in the first one-day international on Monday.

Spin sensation Mendis finished with 3-21 and off-spinner Muralitharan with 3-37 to ensure India remained under pressure throughout their innings after making a disappointing start.

Mendis grabbed two key wickets in his opening spell when he removed hard-hitting batsmen Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, while Muralitharan made short work of India's lower order.

The tourists suffered a setback even before the first ball had been bowled as in-form opener Virender Sehwag was ruled out of the match due to an ankle injury, sustained during a practice session on Sunday evening.

Nothing went right for India after they elected to bat on a good pitch, losing wickets at regular intervals against both pace and spin.

Left-handed Yuvraj was India's top scorer with 23 in a dismal batting performance. No other batsman could even reach 20 against Sri Lanka's disciplined pace-spin combination.

Left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas gave the hosts a dream start when he removed opener Gautam Gambhir with the second delivery of the match, which moved in sharply to knock back the off-stump.

Vaas is now one short of becoming the fourth bowler to complete 400 wickets in one-day internationals.

Paceman Nuwan Kulasekara (2-23) trapped debutant Virat Kohli (12) leg-before and then got rid of Suresh Raina (17), who drove straight to Chamara Silva in the covers.

Yuvraj, dropped on five by skipper Mahela Jayawardene at second slip off Kulasekara, failed to capitalise on the chance as he could only add 18 more runs before falling in Mendis's opening over.

The middle-order batsman started aggressively against Mendis as he lofted the bowler over long-on for a six before being dismissed in the same over, bowled off an inside-edge while attempting to defend.

Skipper Dhoni (six) was caught by Jayawardene at lone slip while trying to cut Mendis to leave his team wobbling at 87-6.

India and Sri Lanka will play five one-day internationals, with the first two matches to be held here and the remaining three in Colombo.

Scoreboard

India:
G. Gambhir b Vaas 0
V. Kohli lbw b Kulasekara 12
S. Raina c Silva b Kulasekara 17
Y. Singh b Mendis 23
R. Sharma c Jayawardene b Thushara 19
MS Dhoni c Jayawardene b Mendis 6
I. Pathan lbw b Muralitharan 7
H. Singh c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 12
Z. Khan c Thushara b Muralitharan 12
P. Ojha not out 16
M. Patel b Mendis 15
Extras (b2, lb2, w3) 7
Total (for all out) 146

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Gambhir), 2-23 (Kohli), 3-36 (Raina), 4-73 (Yuvraj), 5-75 (Sharma), 6-87 (Dhoni), 7-87 (Pathan), 8-107 (Zaheer), 9-117 (Harbhajan), 10-146 (Patel).
Bowling
Vaas 9-0-34-1
Kulasekara 7-0-23-2 (w1)
Thushara 6-0-18-1
Mendis 9-4-21-3 (w1)
Muralitharan 10-2-37-3 (w1)
Jayasuriya 5-1-9-0

Overs: 46

Toss: India

Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WIS) and Asoka de Silva (SRI)

TV umpire: Gamini Silva (SRI)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)